Tucker Carlson Is Just Plain Wrong About Venezuela

VENEZUELA AT THE TIPPING POINT AS NEO-SOVIET RUSSIA CALLS THE SHOTS. As the world watches, Venezuelans struggle for their lives and for freedom. • • • VENEZUELA IN CHAOS. That's the headline in the May 1 Fox News First leading story. Fox News reports : "Opposition leader Juan Guaidó has called for a new round of mass protests on Wednesday after a day of violent uprising in Venezuela against disputed President Nicolas Maduro. After being absent for most of the day, Maduro took to the airwaves to proclaim that Guaidó's rebellion had been defeated. However, that did not stop Guaidó, who is recognized by the US and more than 50 other nations as Venezuela's rightful president, from calling for more protests. Opposition forces hope that fed-up Venezuelans will be so angered by broadcast images of armored vehicles plowing into protesters that they will continue to riot in the streets. And in a blow to Maduro, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuela's feared secret police, turned his back on the disputed leader in an open letter made public Tuesday night." • Fox News reporter Sam Chamberlain wrote separately on Wednesday that : "The White House insists 'all options' remain on the table as Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido looks to oust Nicolas Maduro. The head of Venezuela's feared secret police has turned his back on disputed President Nicolas Maduro in an open letter made public Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Maduro took to Venezuela's airwaves to proclaim that the uprising sparked by opposition leader Juan Guaidó had been defeated. In a rambling address, Maduro said his regime had responded to the rebellion with 'nerves of steel, maximum serenity and effective action' and claimed that the leaders of the uprising were under arrest and being questioned. 'This cannot go unpunished,' said Maduro, who added that 'all of those involved must surrender.' Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), is the highest-ranking member of the country's security forces to break with Maduro since Guaidó called for a military uprising Tuesday morning. In the letter, the authenticity of which was confirmed to the Associated Press by a US official, Figuera wrote that while he always had been loyal to Maduro, 'the time has come to seek new ways of doing politics' to try and 'rebuild the country.' The letter did not mention Guaidó by name but did say that Venezuela has experienced a damaging decline." The SEBIN was responsible for holding Leopoldo Lopez, Venezuela's most prominent anti-Maduro activist, in custody since his arrest in 2014. Lopez appeared alongside Guaidó, his political protege, Tuesday and claimed that he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Guaidó. It was not immediately clear what role, if any, Figuera had played in Lopez's release. • Fox News also reported that : "Earlier Tuesday, National Security Advisor John Bolton said the Trump administration was waiting for three key officials -- Maduro's defense minister, the chief judge of the supreme court and the commander of Maduro's presidential guard -- to act on what he said were private pledges to remove the beleaguered Venezuelan leader. 'All agreed that Maduro had to go. They need to be able to act this afternoon, or this evening, to help bring other military forces to the side of the interim president,' Bolton said. 'If this effort fails, [Venezuela] will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives.' " • I'm not sure Bolton was wise to make that statement publicly, AND, Fox News said that Venezuelan defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, "publicly condemned Guaidó's move Tuesday as a 'terrorist' act and 'coup attempt' that was bound to fail. Guaidó has said that in the coming hours he would release a list of top commanders supporting the uprising. 'The armed forces have taken the right decision,' said Guaidó. 'With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history.' " • Newsmax reported on Tuesday that President Trump said the United States "would hit Cuba with sanctions and an embargo if it continued its military support for the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. 'If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba,' Trump said on Twitter. 'Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!' " • Meanwhile, Fox News reported on Tuesday that : "The US has learned Venezuela's disputed president, Nicolas Maduro, was 'ready' to leave the country amid protest violence and calls for his ouster -- until Russia convinced him to stay. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Tuesday night, 'He was ready to go....He was diverted by the Russians.' ....Pompeo also noted he wanted Maduro, whom he called a 'thug,' to get back on that plane. The US and about 50 other nations have taken the position that Maduro’s re-election last year was marred by fraud and that he is not the legitimate president of Venezuela, a once prosperous nation that has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. The US government said about 20,000 Cuban troops and agents have been working in Venezuela to prop up Maduro's government, a figure disputed by Cuba. Pompeo said the Cubans and Russians have been in direct opposition of Venezuela’s duly elected leader, Juan Guaido. He noted that the 14 countries supporting Maduro were on the wrong side of history, and that rule of law and democracy must be restored. 'It’s time for Maduro to leave...and rebuild this once great economy,' Pompeo told Bret Brier." • Fox News also said that the Trump administration "declared quick and enthusiastic support Tuesday for the Venezuelan opposition effort to spark a military uprising against embattled Maduro, hoping for decisive action in the political crisis that has engulfed the South American nation." A former Venezuelan senior UN diplomat urged the US to strengthen its response to the Maduro regime "before it's too late." In January, the Trump administration, said Fox News : "took the unusual step of recognizing Guaido, the opposition leader of the National Assembly, as interim president. It also imposed punishing sanctions on the country’s oil sector, deepening the country’s economic crisis. Despite these and other measures, Maduro, the hand-picked successor to President Hugo Chavez, has retained his hold on the country and the support of the security services. That support had seemed to crack Tuesday with the launch of what the opposition was calling 'Operation Freedom,' which began with the early-morning release of a short video of Guaido alongside a few dozen national guardsmen urging people to 'take to the streets.' ” • • • TUCKER CARLSON IS WRONG ABOUT VENEZUELA. I don't often disagree with Tucker Carlson, but this time, I do. On his monologue from "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Tuesday, April 30, Tucker Carlson offered his opinion about the US "meddling" in Venezuela : "There is much we don't know about the situation in Venezuela. What we do know is that Venezuela's current government has done a poor job of providing for its own people [start right there -- the Madura regime has starved its people and left them without electricity in the country with the greatest proven oil reserves in the world]. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves, yet it remains one of the most impoverished and the most dangerous places on the planet. That is beyond dispute. Everything else is up for debate. Will the overthrow of disputed President Nicolas Maduro make Venezuela a more stable and prosperous country? More to the point, would it be good for the United States? Lots of people claim to know the answer to that, but they don't. They have no idea. If recent history is any guide, nothing will turn out as expected. Few things ever do. But that has not stopped the geniuses in Washington. It has not even slowed them down. On Tuesday afternoon, on a bipartisan basis, they agreed that the United States ought to jump immediately, face-first, into the Venezuelan mess. When asked whether US presence in Venezuela would make any difference, Senator Rick Scott of Florida told Neil Cavuto the following : 'Absolutely. I was down at the Venezuelan border last Wednesday. This is just pure genocide. Maduro is killing his own citizens.' When asked whether Venezuela was worth risking American troops' lives, Scott said, 'Here is what is going to happen. We are in the process, if we don't win today, we are going to have Syria in this hemisphere. So, we can make sure something happens now, or we can deal with this for decades to come. If we care about families, if we care about the human race, if we care about fellow worldwide citizens, then we've got to step up and stop this genocide.' " Tucker Carlson then moves on to the track record of the US in "MEDDLING" : "When was the last time we successfully meddled in the political life of another country? Has it ever worked? How are the democracies we set up in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and Afghanistan right now? How would Venezuela be different? All right, I just want to make sure that it is clear. If you care about families and you care about the human race -- if you want to stop genocide -- you will send your children to Venezuela to fight right now, without even thinking about it, without even weighing the consequences. You will just do it. Assuming you are a good person, of course. If you don't care about families or the human race -- if for some reason you despise human happiness and support genocide -- then you will want to join Satan's team and embrace isolationism, the single most immoral of all worldviews. That is what they're telling you. That is what they are demanding you believe. Message received. We've heard it before. But before the bombers take off, let's just answer a few quick questions, starting with the most obvious: When was the last time we successfully meddled in the political life of another country? Has it ever worked? How are the democracies we set up in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and Afghanistan right now? How would Venezuela be different? Please explain -- and take your time." NOTE : we will deal with this larger issue below. • And, then Tucker Carlson makes the great leap that panders to the valid fears of Americans related to the southern border crisis created by illegal immigrants : "Are we prepared for the refugees a Venezuelan war would inevitably produce? A study by the Brookings Institution found that the collapse of the Venezuelan government could force eight million people to leave the country. Many of them would come here. Lawmakers in this country propose giving them temporary protected status that would let even illegal arrivals live and work here, in effect, permanently, as many have before, with no fear of deportation. Are we prepared for that? Are we prepared to absorb millions of new Venezuelan migrants? All of them great people, no question, But many would have little education or skills or would not speak English." • NOTE : More than 200,000 Venezuelans already live in Florida, according to a 2018 University of Miami study. Doral, the heart of the Venezuelan community west of Miami is bustling with Venezuelan culture. There are also large Venezuelan communities in Houston, New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. If Tucker had bothered to search the recent archives of his own Fox News, he would have found this February 2019 article : "MIAMI -- When Vice President Pence visited here recently, he didn’t go straight to Little Havana for cafecito at Versailles, a traditional stop for politicians. Instead, he visited a church in Doral, a suburban community home to one of the city's fastest-growing immigrant groups. As Venezuelans have fled their country in staggering numbers, many have resettled in South Florida, becoming a growing cultural and political force in an area that for years has largely been dominated by Cubans. Miami now has the largest Venezuelan ex-pat community in the United States, and they have altered the landscape in a city that already has a melting pot of immigrants. That dynamic is reshaping Miami politics and becoming a growing influence in both Washington and Caracas. The South Florida Venezuelans are the politically influential portions of the population now. They are the ones that are going to be involved in regime change and rebuilding Venezuela....At one popular restaurant, El Arepaso, a large Venezuelan flag flutters on the roof. It’s just one of many businesses that many Venezuelan-Americans said makes them feel like they are home. Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, who is Cuban-American, said the Venezuelan community has become a force in South Florida -- and [as Senator Scott knows very well] could one day hold as much sway politically in the region as Cubans do in Miami. 'While the Cuban population may be larger than the Venezuelan population, I think that is something that you will see....Much like the Puerto Ricans in Orlando, Venezuelans are attracting the attention of both political parties and candidates hoping to court them. Republicans, particularly, have blamed the political crisis in Venezuela on socialism, using it as an example of what happens when a far left-leaning regime is in power. The Trump administration has been vocal in condemning Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and urging him to step aside. Trump visited Miami last week and gave a rousing anti-socialism speech, saying what happened in Miami 'will never happen to us. The days of socialism and communism are numbered. Not only in Venezuela but in Nicaragua and in Cuba, as well.' Democratic leaders and 2020 candidates recently began calling attention to the issue, with Senators Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders calling for free elections and humanitarian aid to be allowed in Venezuela. But some Venezuelans have questioned whether the criticism goes far enough. In a state where major elections are often decided by a handful of votes, University of Miami political science professor Michael Touchton said Venezuelans in Miami could sway future elections. It’s still unclear whether the Venezuelan crisis will draw the community to the Republican Party like the Cuban missile crisis prompted many Cubans to shift right. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio and top Senate Democrats are working together on legislation that would allow Venezuelans to stay in the US with temporary protection from work permits and deportation....Rubio said granting temporary protected status would provide a solution to Venezuelans who fear returning home. Touchton...said the issue has political implications. 'If regime change occurs in Venezuela, while Trump is in office, he will benefit politically, and Republicans will benefit politically, from those votes in South Florida.' [A Venezuelan held up a sign at Trump's speech in Miami reading : "Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."]. Pence on Monday went to Colombia to speak with leaders and rally the international community behind opposition leader Juan Guaidó....'The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy,' Pence said....Stephany Melchor moved to Miami in 2016, leaving her family to pursue a future she could never have back home. 'I decided to come here. I had the support of my two brothers and I started over,' she said. Melchor says many Venezuelans are grateful the United States stepped up to intervene amid the political crisis....'Coming from a person so powerful as the President of the United States,” Melchor said, “is actually a relief.' ” NOTE : Like the Cubans who were welcomed by the United States when the Castro Communist dictatorship began its crushing of Cubans who support human freedom, the Venezuelans who can escape the brutal socialist-marxist Madura regime will always be welcome in the United States. And, Tucker won't have to worry about their moving in to get welfare benefits without speaking English -- they are first- rate entrepreneurs and workers who will adapt and add to the cultural richness that makes America great. • Tucker Carlson wasn't finished. He added : "Finally, how, exactly, is any of this good for the United States? Our sanctions on Venezuela have already spiked our gas prices. That hurts our struggling middle class more than virtually anything we could do. So what's is the point of doing that? So our lawmakers can feel like good people? And if they are, indeed, good people, why do they care more about Venezuela than they care about this country, the one that they run? They are happy to send our military to South America at the first sign of chaos. But send US troops to our own border to stem the tide of a hundred thousand uninvited arrivals a month? 'No way,' they tell us. 'That is crazy talk!' So, what is the thinking here?' " • NOTE : Gas prices in the US are up mostly because of the entirely correct decision of the Tuump administration to shut down Iranian oil exports -- those exports feed Iran's worldwide terrorist agenda that has even been felt in Venezuela. As for the southern border situation, the crisis in Venezuela has nothing in common with the illegal immigrants on the US-Mexican border. Those poor Venezuelans who can walk are heading for Colombia and Brazil, not the southern US border. If there is an argument between the Democrat Party and President Trump, it is whether to help these poor Venezuelan immigrants who are fleeing into other South American countries. The Democrats want to shut the borders and force them back to Venezuela rather than helping neighboring countries provide for them. • • • TUCKER CARLSON IS DEAD WRONG ABOUT HIS 'MEDDLING' CHARGE. Carlson asked : "When was the last time we successfully meddled in the political life of another country? Has it ever worked? How are the democracies we set up in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and Afghanistan right now? How would Venezuela be different? • Tucker Carlson doesn't know or has forgotten his history and geography. Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan are tribal areas whose boundaries were drawn by Europeans after one world war or another. They have never had functioning democracies or a cultural sense of personal liberties and freedoms. BUT, in 1811, Venezuela became one of the first Spanish-American territories to declare independence, gaining full independence as a country in 1830. Since 1958, Venezuela has had democratic governments. Economic shocks in the 1980s and 1990s led to several political crises, two attempted coups in 1992, and the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez for embezzlement of public funds in 1993. A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 election of former coup-involved career officer Hugo Chávez and the launch of the Chavista socialist-marxist Bolivarian Revolution. Venezuela is a federal presidential republic and a charter member of the UN and OAS. Although most residents speak Spanish, the Constitution recognizes more than thirty indigenous languages, mostly with few speakers -- less than 1% of the total population. English is the most widely used foreign language in demand and is spoken by many professionals, academics, and members of the upper and middle classes as a result of the oil exploration done by foreign companies, in addition to its acceptance as a lingua franca. According to the 2011 census, Venezuelans are Christian -- Catholic (71%) and Protestant (17%), with 8% non-religious. Education standards in Venezuela are said to be the highest in Latin America, according to research. Among all Venezuelans (15 years and older), 93.4% can read and write which is one of the highest literacy rates in the region. And, Venezuela has more than 90 institutions of higher education, with 860,000 students in 2002. THUS, Venezuelans migrating to the US will be Christian, educated, and often English-speaking. • LET'S CONSIDER TUCKER'S "MEDDLING" ERROR. To do that, consider the countries where freedom-loving democratic Christian citizens revolted against Communist dictators and the US DID NOTHING. • HUNGARY. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the Hungarian Uprising, was a nationwide revolution against the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from October 23 until November 10, 1956. It was the first major threat to Soviet control since the Red Army drove Nazi Germany from its territory at the End of World War II in Europe. The revolt began as a student protest, which attracted thousands as they marched through central Budapest to the Hungarian Parliament building, calling out on the streets using a van with loudspeakers. A student delegation, entering the radio building to try to broadcast the students' demands, was detained. When the delegation's release was demanded by the protesters outside, they were fired upon from within the building by the State Security Police. One student died and was wrapped in a flag and held above the crowd. This was the start of the revolution. As the news spread, disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital. The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government collapsed. A new government formally disbanded the old one, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October, fighting had almost stopped, and a sense of normality began to return. Initially appearing open to negotiating a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On November 4, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. The Hungarian resistance continued until November 10. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months thereafter. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. Although US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles recommended on October 24, 1956, for the United Nations Security Council to convene to discuss the situation in Hungary, little immediate action was taken to introduce a resolution, in part because other world events unfolded the day after the peaceful interlude started, when allied collusion started the Suez Crisis. The problem was not that Suez distracted US attention from Hungary but that it made the condemnation of Soviet actions very difficult. As Vice President Richard Nixon later explained, "We couldn't on one hand, complain about the Soviets intervening in Hungary and, on the other hand, approve of the British and the French picking that particular time to intervene against Nasser." The Security Council resolution critical of Soviet actions was vetoed by the Soviet Union; instead resolution 120 was adopted to pass the matter onto the General Assembly, which, by a vote of 50 in favor, 8 against and 15 abstentions, called on the Soviet Union to end its Hungarian intervention. After the Soviet suppression of the revolution, Radio Free Europe was criticized for having misled the Hungarian people that NATO or the UN would intervene if citizens continued to resist. In the immediate aftermath, thousands of Hungarians were arrested -- 26,000 were brought before Hungarian courts; 22,000 were sentenced and imprisoned; 13,000 interned; and 229 executed. Approximately 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees. During the November, 1956, Soviet assault on Budapest, Cardinal Mindszenty was granted political asylum at the United States embassy, where he lived for the next 15 years, refusing to leave Hungary unless the government reversed his 1949 conviction for treason. Because of poor health and a request from the Vatican, he finally left the embassy for Austria in September, 1971. Despite Cold War rhetoric by western countries calling for a roll-back of the domination of Europe by the USSR and Soviet promises of the imminent triumph of socialism, national leaders of this period as well as later historians saw the failure of the uprising in Hungary as evidence that the Cold War in Europe had become a stalemate. In a newspaper interview in 1957, Khrushchev commented "support by United States...is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man." • POLAND. In June 1956, a violent uprising by Polish workers in Poznań was put down by the government, with scores of protesters killed and wounded. Responding to popular demand, in October, 1956, the government appointed the recently rehabilitated reformist communist Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, with a mandate to negotiate trade concessions and troop reductions with the Soviet government. After a few tense days of negotiations, on October 29, the Soviets finally gave in to Gomułka's reformist demands. News of the concessions won by the Poles, known as Polish October, emboldened many Hungarians to hope for similar concessions for Hungary and these sentiments contributed significantly to the Hungarian uprising in October, 1956. • CZECHOSLOVAKIA. Much later, the Prague Spring, a period of political liberalization and mass protest in Czechoslovakia began on January 5, 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and continued until August 21,1968, when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to suppress the reforms. The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. The reforms, especially the decentralization of administrative authority, were not received well by the Soviets, who, after failed negotiations, sent half a million Warsaw Pact troops and tanks to occupy the country. The New York Times cited reports of 650,000 men equipped with the most modern and sophisticated weapons in the Soviet military arsenal. Resistance was mounted throughout the country, involving attempted fraternization, sabotage of street signs, and defiance of curfews. While the Soviet military predicted it would take four days to subdue the country, the resistance held out for eight months until it was finally circumvented by diplomatic maneuvers. There were several protest suicides by self-immolation (the most famous being that of Jan Palach), but no military resistance. Czechoslovakia remained controlled by the Soviet Union until 1989, when the Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the communist regime; the last Soviet troops left the country in 1991.The Soviets attributed the invasion of Czechoslovakia to the "Brezhnev Doctrine," which stated that the USSR had the right to intervene whenever a country in the Eastern Bloc appeared to be making a shift towards capitalism. On August 25,1968, citizens of the Soviet Union who did not approve of the invasion protested in Red Square. Seven protesters opened banners with anti-invasion slogans. The demonstrators were brutally beaten and arrested by security forces, and later punished by a secret tribunal; the protest was dubbed "anti-Soviet" and several people were detained in psychiatric hospitals. However, most countries offered only vocal criticism following the invasion. The night of the invasion, Canada, Denmark, France, Paraguay, the United Kingdom and the United States requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. At the meeting, the Czechoslovak ambassador Jan Muzik denounced the invasion. Soviet ambassador Jacob Malik insisted the Warsaw Pact actions were "fraternal assistance" against "antisocial forces." [Credit to Wikipedia for the facts of the eastern Europe uprisings.] • • • HINDSIGHT. It's always easy. But, it can often be instructive. If the United States and the Free World had sensed correctly the popular spirit of revolt against Soviet dictatorship in the 1950s in the eastern European countries that had been handed over to the Soviet Union after World War II, the history of Europe and the world might have been much different. • American Thinker's Monica Showalter asked in an article on Wednesday : "Is something finally happening in Venezuela? Is the thing that can't go on, not going on? We've had so many false alarms it's tempting to just ignore this one. Wake us when it's over. Venezuela's democratic acting president, Juan Guaido, called for a giant rally on May Day, a bid for the Venezuelan public to come out into the streets and protest yet again. Not very original, but there isn't much else he can do, given that the Venezuelan military...hasn't significantly joined the side of the democrats." BUT, Showalter says : "In Guaido's march on the Venezuelan military base to get the military to join him, it's very significant that he was accompanied by his political mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who spent years in Chavista socialist dungeons without trial for leading protests, and who was recently released to house arrest under Chavista guard. But the Chavistas let him out....Some reports say they joined the protests. This in itself suggests a disintegrating military, a broken chain of command, and from a bad quarter, the trusted troops that guard dissidents. Their presence is not going to go unnoticed by the Venezuelan military men still on the inside. They may even calculate that Guaido is now the strong horse, so go with the winner. That in turn could trigger more defections. Maybe the trickle to the democrats from such quarters is just a few steps away from becoming a deluge....Guaido says he has the military with him. It's in this newly out Wall Street Journal story. It's true he would have an interest in making himself look more popular than he might be as a means of demoralizing his socialist opponents. But would he have said it if it weren't true at all? There must be something going on. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Maybe this is it..." • • • THE MONROE DOCTRINE. Today, the United States has the chance to stave off Russia's neo-Soviet ambitions in Venezuela. Russian troops -- and Chinese and Iranian, as there undoubtedly also are -- anywhere in South America is a violation of one of America's oldest foreign policies -- the Monroe Doctrine, which is the best known US policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in December, 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs, creating separate spheres of European and American influence. The United States promised to stay out of European business and told the Europeans to stay out of the Western Hemisphere's business. Russia is now openly violating the Monroe Doctrine, and if it is not stopped in Venezuela, it will spread its on-the-ground troop system as widely as possible in South America. While Venezuela's oil may be the immediate prize, the rich resources and markets of all South America will be in play -- and finally, the BIG GOAL -- America, itself. Those are not pleasant thoughts, but they are realistic. Asking Cubans, or Russian troops dressed in Cuban uniforms, to leave Venezuela is simply fools' work. More is required. And it is required now. Former CIA Director James Woolsey told Newsmax TV on Tuesday that it is time for the United States to "take some decisive steps" because of the chaos in Venezuela and Russia's involvement there. Woolsey told Newsmax : "I'm most worried about Russia right now for all sorts of reasons. You've got something like 20,000 Russian troops masquerading in their uniform color as being from somewhere other than where they're from. I think we have to take some decisive steps. I would hasten to say I'm not suggesting that at this point we use military force. But economic steps, ways of cracking down on those three or four countries that are helping preserve the dictatorship, and an illegal one, in Venezuela, I think we have not been moving hard enough and we need to pick up our speed and game. We need to use some of the tricks of the trade that we've used in past decades to help countries become free," he said, referring to CIA drop-ins. • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox Business on Wednesday that US military action "is possible" in Venezuela to bolster opposition leader Juan Guaido's bid to oust President Nicolas Maduro. “The President has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent -- military action is possible, if that’s what’s required -- that’s what the United States will do." Pompeo's remarks appeared to mark an escalation of the Trump administration's rhetoric on Venezuela. Pompeo and other officials, including President Trump, have said that "all options are on the table" but focused mostly on economic sanctions and other diplomatic tools. Pompeo said, "We are trying to do everything we can to avoid violence....We’d prefer a peaceful transition of government there where Maduro leaves and a new election is held.” • • • DEAR READERS, right now, it is fashionable for conservatives to be isolationist and anti-immigration. That's fine in most cases. BUT, when isolation and anti-immigration become knee-jerk reactions to every situation, one becomes an ideologue, that is, someone who is uncompromising and dogmatic. Merriam-Webster says an ideologue is "an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology." We conservatives should rise above ideology -- leave knee-jerking for the unthinking radical ProgDems. A situation as serious and far-reaching as the Venezuela crisis demands thoughtful responses. Not ideology. I admire Tucker Carlson, but he ought to think through his positions more carefully. Isolationist, anti-immigration reflexes toward the Venezuela collapse are not worthy of him or any conservative. NEVER FORGET TO THINK.